Not sure how to react...

Last year when I was just starting out I did an engagement shoot and they purchased the disc with the copyright to print the images.

They had asked me if I could shoot the wedding but without experience, I respectfully declined.

My wife and I attended their wedding this past weekend and once we sat down, my wife noticed a card on the table from the photography company letting everyone know about how they can view the pictures of the ceremony, reception, etc.

The thing that she noticed was the image on the card was an image from the engagement shoot that I did.

I'm not sure how to react or if I should react at all. I don't know if me giving up the copyright allowed another company to do this but at the same time, I think the company should have known better.

I didn't speak to the photographer because he wasn't the owner of the company. I do have the contact information from the card.

Any thoughts?

Why not call the number on the card and inquire? Perhaps since they had the cr, the couple wanted to use your shots on the card. It is too bad you didn't get credit for it.

I would still call them for sure and see what intact happened. If it is shady business, i suspect you are not the first one to have this happen to.

I think your bride gave them the photos and didn't think twice about it.

Or, she printed those cards and put them there.

Bottom line, I think the only thing you can do next is make things bad for yourself if you make assertions rather than observations.

If you 'assert' your right you either find out that the other photographer has no idea what you're talking about, doesn't care, or the bride gets involved -- in no case do you get paid money.

What you can do is let the bride know that you noticed, and tell her that you are glad she liked that shot so much that it ended up on every table. And, that it would have been nicer if the shot was not linked to the promotion of another photographer, even if by accident.

Small world, and you have to sell into it.

Did you specifically sell the copyright? If you did it's up to the couple to allow or not allow someone to use the image, you have no rights to it at all. If this is the case, and I'm assuming the couple supplied the photo to be used as it was, the other photographer did nothing wrong. Might've been nice to credit you, though.

Solo87 wrote in post #13182871
...they purchased the disc with the copyright to print the images.

A lot depends on what you meant by this statement. Did they "purchase a disc and the copyright"? If so, they can do whatever they want with the images. Or did they "purchase a disc, and a *release to print them for a specific usage*", in which case depending on the restrictions of that usage agreement, you might have a bone to pick with them.

Dave

tracknut wrote in post #13183076
A lot depends on what you meant by this statement. Did they "purchase a disc and the copyright"? If so, they can do whatever they want with the images. Or did they "purchase a disc, and a *release to print them for a specific usage*", in which case depending on the restrictions of that usage agreement, you might have a bone to pick with them.

Dave

Good catch, it was a release and not the full copyright itself.

I think she didn't think twice about it when she gave them the image. I just think the business should have been more aware of it and at least give credit where credit was due.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Here's an anecdote:

I worked for an office that puts on an annual political event. A very good professional photographer voluntarily took photos in exchange for access to the event and gave the office a cd one year. The next year, one of the photos was used for the invitation and several were blown up and hung on a wall viewable on television. No credit was given, if I am correct.

The photographer politely sent a message expressing how excited he was to see one of his photos used for the invitation and that we selected his photos for the wall. There was some implication that he would have liked to have seen some credit... but he didn't make an issue of it. Water under the bridge... but he asserted himself and walked away. I respected that and it was a lesson learned.

(Although I worked for the office at the time, I had no involvement in those decisions)

Solo87 wrote in post #13183320
Good catch, it was a release and not the full copyright itself.

I think she didn't think twice about it when she gave them the image. I just think the business should have been more aware of it and at least give credit where credit was due.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Sadly most civilians don't understand copyright. It would occur to her that she couldn't use the image in that way. However you would expect the other photographer to know and if he was a bit smarter say "oh we can't use that image without permission, but don't worry, I can take an image for the table card at just a small additional cost".